Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/114080 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 9200
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper studies the extent to which young children develop their cognitive ability in high and low quality schools. We use a representative panel data set containing cognitive test scores of 4-6 year olds in Dutch schools. School quality is measured by the school's average achievement test score at age 12. Our results indicate that children in high-quality schools develop their skills substantially faster than those in low-quality schools. The results remain robust to the inclusion of initial ability, parental background, and neighborhood controls. Moreover, using proximity to higher-achieving schools as an instrument for school choice corroborates the results. The robustness of the results points toward a causal interpretation, although it is not possible to erase all doubt about unobserved confounding factors.
Subjects: 
cognitive skills
child development
school quality
JEL: 
I2
I24
J24
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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